When the red lady spoke to Li Yan, Li Hu kept looking at her with complicated eyes.

As soon as the red lady finished speaking, Li Hu pretended to talk to Li Yan and rode close to Li Yan, and then suddenly smashed a punch on the back of Li Yan's head.

The red lady saw it clearly, and suddenly her beautiful eyes widened with anger, and she said angrily: "Huzi, what are you doing?" ”

Li Hu stretched out his hand to support Li Yan's limp body, and said indifferently: "Big brother, he doesn't know martial arts at all, although my sister-in-law is strong in martial arts, it is inevitable that she can't take care of it in the chaotic army, if the eldest brother has any mistakes, then it will be too late to regret it, so, sister-in-law, you should hurry up and leave the Chinese army with your eldest brother." ”

The red lady was stunned and speechless: "This ......"

At this time, Jing Maocheng and Li Xuan had also come back to their senses, and they persuaded one after another: "Yes, the safety of the marshal is related to the life and death of the righteous army, so you can't be cautious." ”

"Okay." The red lady thought for a while, gritted her silver teeth and said, "Then the Chinese army will be handed over to Huzi, Senior Brother, and General Li Xuan, the three of you." ”

"Sister-in-law, leave it to the younger brother here."

"Senior sister, don't worry."

"Madame, don't worry."

Li Hu and the three of them agreed, the red lady nodded, and stepped forward to take Li Yan, who had passed out, from Li Hu's arms, put it in front of the saddle, and then turned around and galloped towards the left flank of the most solid defense of the righteous army.

■■■

The sudden three-way war outside Datong City began in an unexpected way, and finally ended in an unexpected way, with both the thief and the Jiannu defeated, and the cunning Wang Pu became the biggest winner.

Li Yan's thieves suffered the heaviest losses, more than 50,000 thieves died in battle, more than 10,000 were killed, and more than 15,000 people were seriously injured.

The only thing that can make Li Yan feel happy is that the Shaanxi Righteous Army won this battle "in name"!

Although it was because of the help of Wang Pu's firearms battalion that the battle was won, although the losses of the righteous army were extremely heavy, but in any case, the victory was won, and the Shaanxi righteous army defeated the powerful Jiannu iron cavalry, which greatly improved the morale and confidence of the soldiers of the righteous army, and more importantly, after this battle, the remaining more than 20,000 thieves have faded into real veterans.

For every general, a veteran who survives a hundred battles will always be the greatest asset.

The Azig Jiannu Iron Cavalry also suffered heavy losses, and more importantly, they lost the battle.

The Jiannu Iron Cavalry chiseled through the circular defensive formation of the Shaanxi Righteous Army with its powerful attack power, but surprisingly the Righteous Army did not collapse, and at this time, the Jiannu Iron Cavalry had reached the end of the strong crossbow, and there was no strength left to divide and surround the Righteous Army, and more importantly, Wang Pu's 2,000 firearms battalion had eaten the five Niu Lu left by Azig and pressed it up again, posing a great threat to Jiannu.

In the end, Azig, who never spoke lightly about retreating, could only order the retreat.

Of the vanguard elite of the 8,000 taels of white flags, there were less than 4,000 horsemen who could finally retreat with Azig, of which more than 1,000 cavalry were killed by the Shaanxi Righteous Army, and the remaining eight complete Niulu, a full 2,400 cavalry, were killed by Wang Pu's firearms battalion.

■■■

Cool foothills.

The 120,000 cavalry army on the right wing led by Dolgon, the regent of Jiannu, was marching south along the west bank of the imperial river, and seeing that it was getting late, Dolgon ordered to camp on the spot.

The army of Jiannu was built, and Dolgon made the account.

Since Dolgon became the regent, he tried his best to improve the situation of the Han ministers, and almost all the Han ministers fell to Dolgon, like Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan, and became Dolgon's confidants.

Dolgon also has a lot of trust in Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan, and whenever there is anything, he must first discuss it with the two of them before making a decision.

In particular, I want to mention Fan Wencheng, this guy claims to be a descendant of Fan Zhongyan, a famous minister in the Song Dynasty, who has been smart and studious since he was a child, proficient in scripture and history, and is a rare talent, but because he was squeezed out by the chief examiner of Liaodong Town at that time, he tried and failed, so he was full of resentment towards the Ming Dynasty in his heart.

In the forty-second year of Wanli, Nurhachi captured Fushun, and Fan Wencheng felt that his talent was difficult to display in the Ming Dynasty, so he angrily defected to Jiannu and officially began his career as a Han annihilator.

Sadly, the aspiring Fan Wencheng did not get the appreciation of Nurhachi, Huang Taiji and his son, and has always been a humble scribe like Zhen Youcai, from the forty-second year of Wanli to the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, for a full twenty-five years, Fan Wencheng suffered a lot of humiliation, his most beloved concubine was tragically annihilated by Jiannu, and even he himself was almost arrested and killed by Huang Taiji.

But even so, Fan Wencheng could only wag his tail and beg for mercy from Jiannu, because he had cut himself off from Daming, knowing that if he escaped back to Daming, it would only be a dead end, and in order to survive, he could only continue to stay in Liaodong and continue to be Jiannu's coat, but Dolgon's reign finally made the fate of this hardcore Han Zhan take a turn.

Compared to Nurhachi's barbarism and Huang Taiji's cruelty, Dolgon was more politically far-sighted, and unlike his father and brother's policy of discrimination and slaughter against the Han Chinese when he was in power, Dolgon tended to reconcile and reuse the Han Chinese.

Dolgon believed that the Manchus were not enough to conquer the Ming Dynasty by relying only on bows and arrows and sabers, and that only by learning the strengths of the Han people and relying on the literati of the Han nationality could the Manchus eventually enter the Central Plains, and the population of the Manchus was too small, and only by integrating the Han people who were exiled to Guanwai with the Huairou policy, the population of the Manchus could be greatly increased in a short period of time.

It was under such circumstances that Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan, the two hardcore Han Jian, were appreciated and reused by Dolgon, and Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan I did not disappoint Dolgon, the two of them did their best to help Dolgon defeat Hauge, the biggest political opponent, and let Dolgon successfully become the regent.

Dolgon's gaze fell on Fan Wencheng and asked, "Mr. Wencheng, this king heard that the walls of Datong City are very strong, how does it compare to Jinzhou City?" ”

Dolgon still has a lot of respect for Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan, and often respects them as gentlemen on formal occasions.

Fan Wencheng replied respectfully: "Back to the master's words, the city of the Ming Dynasty is divided into four levels: town, guard, place and fort, Jinzhou City is just an acropolis, but Datong is a town city, and it is the location of the vassal mansion of the king, therefore, Jinzhou City can not be compared with Datong City, Datong City is four miles long on the side, nearly twenty miles in radius, the city wall is tamped with yellow mud mixed with grass, three feet eight feet high, seven feet wide at the bottom, two layers of green bricks are covered, very thick and solid. ”

Dolgon frowned and asked, "Can the Hongyi cannon blast through the Datong city wall?" ”

"I can't." Fan Wencheng shook his head and said, "Although the Hongyi cannon is huge, it is not enough to blast through such a thick city wall, if the master has to bombard the city wall with the Hongyi cannon, the slave thinks that it will take at least a few months and spend hundreds of thousands of catties of gunpowder to destroy the city wall." ”

Gang Lin was stunned when he heard this: "It will take several months and spend hundreds of thousands of catties of gunpowder? How many shots do you have to fire? ”

Tong Yang, an artillery expert, immediately wrenched his fingers and calculated: "Each cannon of Hongyi needs to consume five catties of gunpowder, 10,000 catties of gunpowder is 2,000 cannons, and 100,000 catties of gunpowder is 20,000 cannons. ”

"One hundred days?" Duoduo shouted, "It will take a hundred days to fight Datong, so won't it take a year to fight Yanjing?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, rest assured, it won't be that long." Fan Wencheng said, "Although the Hongyi cannon can't open the Datong city wall, it is not difficult to open the city gate. ”

Dolgon said: "I'm afraid that Wang Pu will block the four gates of Datong with boulders, just like Zu Dashou." ”

"That's fine." Fan Wencheng said, "The master can make people dig tunnels, dig to the foot of the Datong city wall, and then bury tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder, and if you don't believe it, you can't blow it up." ”

Dorgon's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he exclaimed, "Well, that's a good idea!" ”

As soon as Dolgon finished speaking, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent, and everyone turned around when they heard the sound, and when the curtain was lifted, a figure had already strode into the tent, only to see that this person was naked, covered in blood, with a white cloth wrapped around his head, and blood was still oozing out of his right face, and he was staring at his blood-red eyes, which looked very hideous and terrifying.

Duoduo's eyes were sharp, and he quickly thought that this man was Azig, and shouted at that time: "Brother Twelve, you ...... How did you become like this? ”

Dolgon was also taken aback, and said in a lost voice: "Old Twelve, what's wrong with you?" ”

"Nothing." Azig replied hummingly, "Just a little skin injury." ”

At this time, Duoduo had already turned to Azig's side and exclaimed again: "Brother Twelve, where is your money rat tail? ”

Azig said angrily: "Let a Nanming girl cut it." ”

Dolgon had already realized that something was wrong, and his face sank at that time, and he asked in a dark voice, "Brother Twelve, have you suffered a defeat?" ”

Azig's head immediately drooped and he stopped talking.

"Brother Fourteen asked you something." Dordor poked Azig and whispered, "Have you suffered defeat?" ”

"I suffered a defeat, but who knew that the firearms battalion of the Nanming barbarians was so powerful?" Azig waved his arms angrily and roared loudly, "Dominica's three oxen recorded nine hundred heavy horses, and they were wiped out in less than a cup of tea, and one of Bamubu's Jiala, just one meal, made people eat ......."

Dolgon was dumbfounded when he heard this, and asked in a loud voice, "Brother Twelve, how many of the eight thousand iron horsemen of the two white flags are left?" ”

Azig's head hung down again, and he replied, "I haven't counted it yet, but it's only about four thousand at most." ”

Dolgon's eyes were black and he almost turned his back on it, Azig actually buried four thousand iron horsemen, which is a whole thirteen bulls!

The strength of the two white flags was originally the weakest of the eight banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he took the opportunity of supporting Fulin, and finally took nine Niu Lu from Haoge's hands, but he didn't expect to let Azig bury them all in one go, and even lost the old four Niu Lu iron horses of the two white flags.

Although he has not yet asked the details of the battle, Dolgon can already conclude that it must be Azig's recklessness that has caused a big deal, and he knew that he should not have relented in the first place and let Azig be the vanguard, if he had replaced his fifteenth brother Duoduo as the vanguard, he would never have suffered this kind of defeat!

"Fifteenth brother." Dorgon suppressed the anger in his chest and said to Dorgon, "Help Brother Twelve down to heal." ”

"Wow."

Duoduo hurriedly answered and hugged Azig out of the tent.

It wasn't until Azig and Duoduo were far away that Dorgon breathed a long sigh of relief and sighed: "It's careless, I didn't expect this king to be soft-hearted for a while, and he actually lost four thousand elites of two white flags, alas......"

Fan Wencheng thought about it, but still persuaded: "Master, as the saying goes, victory and defeat are common things in soldiers......

Dolgon Huo Ran raised his hand and interrupted Fan Wencheng and said: "Mr. Wencheng doesn't need to say much, this king knows in his heart, he will not be eager to take revenge because of the loss of four thousand elites, and he will not lose his mind because of the injury of King Wuyingjun, this attack on Datong will inevitably have a fierce battle with Wang Pu, and this king has enough patience." ”

Fan Wencheng said respectfully: "The master is wise. ”

■■■

Datong, the general army marches.

Wei Daben panted and entered the tent, and waved his fists to Wang Pu: "The lower officials see the master of the horse." ”

"Lord Wei doesn't have to be polite." Wang Pu hurriedly said, "Lord Wei, have the people outside the West Gate entered the city?" ”

Wei Daben gasped and said, "Don't worry, the lower officials have already been done." ”

"Okay." Wang Pu nodded and said in a deep voice, "There is still an urgent matter that needs to be handled immediately by Lord Wei." ”

Wei Daben said: "But I rely on the horse master to send it." ”

Wang Pu said: "Jiannu's vanguard cavalry has appeared, think that their brigade is not far from Datong, Jiannu is not better than thieves, they are not only strong and strong, but also sharp siege weapons - Hongyi cannon!" Although the walls of Datong City are strong enough, the city gates may not be able to withstand the bombardment of Hongyi cannons. ”

Wei Daben said: "What do you mean?" ”

Wang Pu said: "Please Lord Wei immediately recruit strong men in the city, block the four gates with boulders, and then pour lead to reinforce!" ”

"Understood." Wei Daben said solemnly, "The next official will do it." ”

Wang Pu clenched his fists and said, "It's troublesome Lord Wei." ”

"Don't dare." Wei Daben hurriedly replied, "This is also for the safety of nearly 100,000 people in Datong City, and it is a matter within the duties of the lower officials. ”

Without waiting for Wang Pu to reply, Wei Daben said again: "The business is important, and the next official will leave." ”

After that, Wei Daben turned around and left directly, looking at Wei Daben's hurried departure figure, Wang Pu couldn't help but have a faint smile on his face, thinking that although this Wei Daben was a little sleek, he still knew the importance very well at the critical moment, and he could be regarded as a good official who sincerely served the people.

Wei Daben had just left, Xiao Qi entered the tent again, clenched his fists and said, "General, are you looking for a humble position?" ”

"Yes." Wang Pu nodded and said in a deep voice, "There is one thing that you have to do." ”

■■■

Outside Datong City, the camp of the rebels.

It was already late at night, but Li Yan's big tent was still bright, and Li Yan was discussing with the generals about the future behavior of the righteous army.

The sudden appearance of thousands of Jiannu iron horsemen from the north was no accident.

There is no doubt that the brigade of Jiannu is coming from the north across the Great Wall to Datong, and this cavalry is just the vanguard of Jiannu, so the original march route of the rebel army must be adjusted, otherwise it will definitely collide with the brigade Jiannu head-on if it goes further north.

The remaining more than 20,000 rebels really had to encounter the brigade of Jiannu, and the result could only be the annihilation of the entire army.

Obviously, this time Jiannu will enter the customs in a big way like the previous two times, and the whole Shanxi and Jingshi are afraid that they are the targets of Jiannu, and if the righteous army turns to these two places, it will inevitably encounter Jiannu.

It seems that the rebels have only one way to go, that is, to return to Shaanxi by the same way, but everyone knows that it is also a dead end, because Shaanxi is too poor, so they go back empty-handed, and in the end everyone has to starve to death, which becomes a dead knot, and the rebels seem to be at the end of the road.

Just when everyone was helpless, Li Hu flashed into the tent and said to Li Yan: "Big brother, there is an official and soldier outside who wants to see you." ”

"Officers and soldiers are fine?" Li Yan's expression moved, and he asked, "What about people?" ”

"It's been brought." Li Hu said, "It's outside the tent." ”

Li Yan said: "Please let him in." ”

"Yes."

Li Hu took the order and left, and soon escorted a man in cloth into the tent, the man was sturdy, and his face was covered with a black cloth, obviously Li Hu was worried that he was snooping on the truth of the rebels.

Out of consideration for protecting Li Yan, the red lady instinctively took half a step forward and blocked Li Yan with her body.

Li Yan waved his hand, Li Hu stepped forward and removed the black cloth strip on the man's face, the man Huo Ran opened his eyes, and his eyes swept around the faces of the rebel generals in the tent, and finally fell on Li Yan, and asked in a deep voice: "Is General Li Yan at your feet?" ”

Li Yan said indifferently: "It's Ben Shuai, how to call him if it's not a big name?" ”

The man hugged his fists and said: "In Xia Xiaoqi, the captain of the Wang family's Ding team." ”

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

"Is it Wang Pu's person?"

Xiao Qi's words fell, and the generals of the rebel army in the tent changed their faces one after another.

Li Yan raised his hand to stop the whispers of the rebel generals, and asked in a deep voice: "The strong man visited the camp late at night, and he didn't know what advice he had?" ”

Xiao Qi clasped his fists in the direction of Datong City, and said loudly: "On the order of my general, I came to guide General Li Yan and his army to Lei Gong Mountain for the time being, as long as the general went to Lei Gong Mountain, the 20,000 stone grain and more than 8 million catties of bacon on the mountain will all belong to the general." ”

"Huh?"

"This ......"

"And such a good thing?"

The faces of the rebel generals in the tent changed again, and all of them had expressions of disbelief on their faces.

Jing Maocheng almost died at the hands of the Ming officials and soldiers, so he had always distrusted the officials and soldiers, and asked coldly at the moment: "Why do we believe in Wang Pu?" Who knows if this will be a trap? ”

"yes, who knows what's in there?"

"Lao Tzu doesn't believe that the officials and soldiers will be safe."

"Wang Pu must be a weasel giving New Year's greetings to chickens, and he is not well-intentioned."

The rest of the rebel generals echoed one after another, but only Li Yan was silent.

Xiao Qi said indifferently: "Believe it or not, that's your business, you are only responsible for communicating and leading the way, if General Li Yan doesn't believe it, then you will leave here." ”

"Wait." Li Yansu said, "Ben Shuai believes in General Wang Pu's sincerity, but ...... There has to be a reason for that, right? ”

Xiao Qi then said: "My general said, if General Li Yan asks, there is only one reason now, that is, Jiannu is too powerful, and it is impossible to block the attack of Jiannu by relying only on the officials and troops in Datong City, so my family hopes to join forces with General Li Yan, and the two armies will cooperate to resist Jiannu." ”

(To be continued)